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Ristar
Ristar is the seventeenth village founded on The Land, in LY 850. It is situated on the west coast of Midds Land, at roughly 7° south latitude and 28° west longitude. It is bordered to the south by Ristar Forest. Its population as of the 905 census was 10,676 humans and 54 elves. Its current Chief Councillor is Hermione Middsclan. In 849, an exploratory expedition set out from Ship, led by Captain Midd, after whom the continent the expedition discovered was named. It was there that they founded Ristar. Until 913, when citizens of Ristar founded the village of Barbequeue, Ristar was considered the easternmost village on the Land. (Technically, this distinction belongs to Woodstockade, though that village is popularly considered the westernmost village, since its settlers sailed west from First Land to discover it.) Ristar is an essentially self-sufficient village, which produces all the food, wood, minerals, and other supplies it requires. Because of its relative isolation, it has developed a somewhat unique culture. While most of the Land's villages fall within the tropic zone, many spirits have claimed that Ristar's culture comes closer than any other on the planet to a Terran concept of the tropics; particularly, that of the Caribbean Sea. (This analysis refers chiefly to Ristarian cuisine and music.) However, the Caribbean is not the only Terran sea whose culture is in some small way represented on the Land by Ristar; another would be the Mediterranean. It was in 852 that explorers from the recently settled village discovered oddberry trees, the fruit of which, it was later learned, were actually a Landian variety of olive. Some of Ristar's other notable crops include cacao, cannabis, coffee, mangoes, passionfruit, pineanas, sugarcane, swe'cit, and threenuts. Ristarian coffee is said by some spirits to be similar to coffee from a Terran island called Java. One spirit also mentioned a Terran coffee blend called Mocha Java, which led a family of coffee growers in Ristar to form an alliance with a family of coffee growers in Pritt, whose coffee is said to be similar to that of the Terran city Mocha, Yemen. The two families called their Pritt-Ristar blend "Mocha Java," after the Terran blend (rather than naming it after the Landian villages). In 904, a woman of the Prittian family married a man of the Ristafar family, and when the surname law was enacted, the two families collectively chose to call themselves "Mocha-Java." The distance from other ports means that travel and trade between Ristar and other villages has always been somewhat scarce; it also makes those rare ships that do sail Ristarian trade routes popular prey for pirates. This has led to Ristar establishing a large branch of the Coast Guard, though it can't patrol the many miles of ocean between Midds Land and the East Isles, which therefore makes those open waters prime hunting ground. Any trading vessels must therefore be well-armed, and crewed by especially brave sailors. Since the Coming of the Order, however, Ristar has also been home to one of First Nation's naval bases. The Ristarian fleet has significantly reduced the occurrence of piracy since that time. People who live in Ristar are referred to as "Ristafars," the rather unorthodox suffix having been invented by settlers on account of its being the farthest village from any other on the Land. (Anything of or from Ristar, other than its citizens, is referred to as "Ristarian," a term which outsiders may sometimes mistakenly use to refer to the village's citizens, as well.) Category:Places